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On some of the Birds of Lauderdale. By Andrew Kelly. 



Haliaetus albicilla. — During the present autumn, a 

 White-tailed Eagle was observed resting on the top of Hunt 

 Law, one of the highest peaks of the Lammermoor range, 

 after it had breakfasted on some carrion at the foot of the 

 hill. It was watched, but did not return to the bait. 



Falco peregrinus. — About three or four miles up Long- 

 croft water, there is a great scaur, into which projects a 

 lofty precipice capped with juniper bushes, whereon the 

 Peregrine maintained its eyrie uninterrupted till last year, 

 when it was relinquished ; but- not, I believe, until it had 

 been harried once or twice. Even yet, although they may 

 have changed their eyrie, they still prey over the whole of 

 this district for red grouse, of which they are very fond ; 

 and, I have even heard it said, they feed their young on 

 nothing else. 



Falco .ZEsalon. — The Merlin is by no means rare in 

 Lauderdale and its neighbouring hills. Mr. Scott tells me 

 he will shoot on an average two or three birds every year. 

 They nest generally in the rocky scaurs, but I see where 

 there are trees, they prefer them ; and Mr. Scott thinks they 

 would always build on trees if they could find them con- 

 veniently — and few can have had greater experience of this 

 beautiful little Falcon. 



Falco tinnunculus. — The gin and the gun have all but 

 swept the Kestrel from our district ; but, indeed, all the 

 hawks have experienced the same heartless cruelty. 



Buteo vulgaris. — Six or seven specimens of the Buzzard 

 have been obtained here, in about the same number of years. 

 Mr. Walter Simson, while dissecting one of these birds, found 

 an adult mole, which it must have swallowed at one gulp, 

 as the skin of it was not even broken. 



Buteo lagopus. — Twenty years ago, Mr. Simson, Lauder, 

 added the Rough-legged Buzzard to his collection. It was 

 caught, he tells me, by the shepherd of Huntington, who, 

 one day, whilst engaged in looking over the fields, came 

 suddenly upon it eating a rabbit. At his approach, the 

 Buzzard moved off slowly, and, as he thought, reluctantly, 

 from his half-finished meal, to the neighbouring wood. This 

 hesitation encouraged him to set a trap and wait the result, 

 which he had not long to do, for in a trice he was back and 



